Yellowstone Day Four & Five

Yellowstone – Day Four and Five

Our last two days at Yellowstone! What a fun trip it has been. Our base camp at Henry’s Lake in Idaho was perfect for getting into the West Yellowstone entrance. Henry’s Lake State Park is a great place to also stay and kick back for a few days, however, watching our grandchildren have so much fun visiting Yellowstone and also having activities while at Henry’s Lake was such a great way to make wonderful memories

Day Four

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is breathtaking! We spent about a half of a day there enjoying the different places surrounding the canyon and looking at the shear volume of water cascading down the Yellowstone falls and continuing as the Yellowstone River. We parked a short bit away from the bridge that crosses near the top of the falls and hiked down to the bridge. It was amazing the beauty of the water going under the bridge and then just dropping off at the edge to become this huge water fall.

Virginia Cascade on the Gibbon River

The Gibbon River flows east of the Continental Divide. A little off the beaten path is Virginia Cascade along the Gibbon River. This follows a one way road along the river with the water following a gentle slope that almost invites you to kayak down the river, however then suddenly it drops more dramatically and you feel glad you didn’t go with the invite.

Day Five

Yellowstone Lake and the Continental Divide

The last day visiting Yellowstone, we drove over the Continental Divide of the Americas to Yellowstone Lake. On our way to the lake, we stopped to get some close up pictures of a beautiful moose. They are even more amazing up close and as this big male grazed it gradually move closer to us. Such a highlight of this last day. We also spotted some more bison lounging in the morning sun. We crossed the Continental Divide several times as it wanders around the park, but this trip took us to Isa Lake – unique in that it flows both east and west of the Continental Divide located at Craig Pass. Interestingly the east outflow ends up flowing to the Pacific, and the west outflow flows east to the Missouri River and on to the Gulf of Mexico.

Mud Volcano and Dragon’s Mouth Spring

The Mud Volcano in Yellowstone is a type of ‘mudpot‘ or ‘mud volcano‘ a geothermal phenomenon (according to Wikipedia) . This was a great little hike up a side of a hill. We stopped by here to see the mudpots and were surprised by a Bison munching away close to the path near that hill. You could tell he was aware that we were there and basically ignored us as he slowly made his way up the hill and into the forest. Once the bison was gone, we proceeded down the path to see the Dragon’s Mouth. Looking at the opening and hearing the roar of hot air and steam coming out, I can understand where it got it’s name.